


A Memory of Kindness

by Texedo_Kamen



Category: Batman: The Animated Series, DC Animated Universe (Timmverse), Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 08:09:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20757125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Texedo_Kamen/pseuds/Texedo_Kamen
Summary: The Martian Manhunter descends into darkness to save a lost soul.





	A Memory of Kindness

J'onn found himself in a swirling sea of red and black. Rage, hate, greed, desperation, fear, and loss. A soul stained in all manner of shadows. 

It was a strange mind. It was slippery and shapeless in a way he wasn't used to. Moving through it was slow, thoughts and emotions clung to him and tugged at his senses painfully. It felt something akin to swimming in thick mud. 

Appropriate. 

At first glance, he despaired of his task, the miracle he had been asked to perform, but he would not give up until he was certain there was nothing to be done. 

He stilled himself and meditated. Opening himself and just sensing, feeling. 

There.

He saw it, glinting dimly in the dark. He slipped through the muck and reached this singular speck of a thing. He touched it, gently, ever so gently. It was such a fragile thing. Worn and dimmed with the passage of time and the ravages of the shadows around it. Almost nothing remained. 

It was warm. He probed it carefully, trying to suss out what exactly it was. 

There. 

A shard of a memory of kindness. 

That's all. 

It was a start.

It didn't necessarily mean anything. Surely this wretched creature had been shown kindness by someone, sometime. But his intuition told him he had found what he was searching for. The shard felt different from the rest. Disconnected. 

Carefully, ever so carefully, he disentangled it from the grime that clung to it, tore at it, threatened to extinguish it forever. 

Slowly, it came loose and he wrapped it in a blanket of warm memories. A pleasant day playing outside with his daughter. The way the moons reflected in his wife's eyes. The joyful tears and thanks of a mother whose child he saved. The love shared by two dear friends. 

J'onn was careful not to stain the shard in his own colors, it would be pointless then, he just needed to protect it from the shadows. It was so close to being lost. 

He held the shard close. It was a start, but it wasn't enough. He had to find more. It was easier now. He knew what to look for. He could see them. Dotted all over, buried in the grime. Like stars peaking through on a cloudy night. 

He peeled another out of the muck and let it join the first. Then another, and another. The light growing stronger as he added them together. The feeling the shards held began to take form, it had texture and detail now. A warm sensation of kindness freely given though reluctantly accepted. "I do not deserve this," the feeling seemed to say, "This is not for me."

Another shard, and another, he could almost see it now, the memory. A hand holding his. Gloved but warm. Kind. Comforting. 

More shards. There was a face now. A smile. Kind. 

He recognized it. 

He felt his body let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He was certain now.

He'd found her. 

Another shard, and another, and then, his mind recoiled as the shards of memory he held kindled into thought, like a star igniting for the first time amidst the cosmic dust.

Confusion, fear, and panic radiated from her. Not memories now. Real, current emotions. Thoughts not yet fully realized. 

He wrapped the blanket of memories around her, carefully reaching out to the newly reborn mind, sending her comforting emotions, calming images. But her panic didn't abate. 

He sent her the face of the boy in her memory, smiling kindly, the feeling of the warmth of his hand in hers. A reflection of the comfort she had felt then, and she calmed. 

He kept projecting that reflection to her and resumed his search retrieving shard after shard. It was easier now. They seemed drawn to her. As if her reawakened will was working with him to pull herself back together.

Piece by piece he put her back together. She began to think real thoughts. Simple at first. Probing, questioning, confusion as her mind tried to work out where she was and what was happening. 

Her thoughts began to take shapes that could be contained by words. There was a shock through the sea around them. The mind that contained them was reacting to what he was doing. He felt it begin fighting him, trying to reach for her, to draw her back into itself and to tear her apart once again. 

"No," J'onn spoke, and the mind recoiled. He could protect them both easily enough but she could feel the agitation and animosity surrounding them and she was becoming anxious again. The reflection he'd given her no longer comforting her as it had before as she began to recognize it as the mirage it was. 

He could take the boys shape and speak to her in his voice to calm her but it felt wrong to insinuate himself into her pure and honest feelings. 

He spoke to her openly, "Peace. Be at ease. You are safe."

Her mind recoiled from him. "Who are you?" she sent back, fearfully, "Where am I?"

"I am a friend. You are safe. I will free you from this darkness soon, but you must remain calm." 

He could tell she was not convinced. "I want Robin. Where's Robin? Is he safe?" 

J'onn's body spoke, "Robin, I have her. I can get her out but it will take more time. She is afraid. Speak comfort to her. I will ensure she hears you."

Distantly, he heard the boy speaking and channeled his words to her. 

"Annie? Can you hear me? I'm here. You need to relax. My friend is going to help you. We're going to get you out of there and everything's going to be alright."

J'onn felt her outpouring of joy as she recognized Robin's voice. He channeled the girl's excited response back to Robin and tuned them both out, refocusing on his task. 

The last shards he could see were retrieved and the girl's mind was as intact as it was going to get. She seemed to have retained only a few memories. Robin saving her, the fight in the factory, a smattering of images and feelings. It was enough. 

He had her mind. He just needed her body. 

J'onn's body spoke, "Robin, tell her to try reforming her body. To separate herself. You will need to reach inside. Tell her to find your hand and hold on. She remembers your warmth, she will feel you. When you feel her, tell me."

"Right. Annie, I need you to pull yourself back together. I'm going to reach for you. Find my hand and hold on. I'll pull you out. I promise."

J'onn could feel the girls mind finding anchor in the soft, inhuman flesh, could sense it shifting around and reforming deep within the creature. He heard Robin's arm sinking into the clay and the constant stream of encouragements the boy spoke to her. Excitement and hope seeping into his voice. 

Clayface's body was unconsciously fighting the rebellion of his own flesh. Struggling against their efforts. 

J'onn suppressed the creatures will, his instincts, forcing him into submission. There was a wet popping sound from deep inside Clayface, then Robin's excited voice, "I've got her!" 

"Hold onto her and pull!" J'onn ordered as he reached his own immaterial hands inside, working to disentangle, mentally and physically, the girl from the monster. 

A sound like boots stuck in mud and Robin's voice full of relief and joy, "She's coming out!"

For the first time, J'onn opened his eyes. He saw Clayface lying unconscious on the table. No straps. If he woke up they wouldn't hold him anyway. Robin stood with one foot braced against the table, both hands gripping a half formed clay hand, struggling to pull her free. 

J'onn's mind reached inside Clayface once more and found the last tethers binding the girl to him. The connection between Clayface and his clay. 

He spoke directly to Annie, "This may hurt, but will be over quickly." He struck, severing the bond forever. With a pop and the wet sound of sludge hitting the ground, she was free. 

J'onn fell back into his chair, the tension leaving his body. He looked at the scene before him. 

The girl was little more than a lump of vaguely humanoid clay, featureless, dripping, but it was her. J'onn needed only to touch her mind to know he had succeeded. She was here and she was free. 

Her appearance did not stop Robin from falling to his knees and embracing her. He didn't seem to care that his hands sank into her and the soft clay stuck his uniform. He was happy. Radiating it like a beacon. 

Slowly the girl put her body of clay into order, from a mess of gray mud, to a young girl, clinging to Robin as desperately as he was to her. 

The boy looked up at him, tears in his eyes, "Thank you, J'onn. Thank you."

J'onn filed this away amongst his modest collection of warm memories and smiled. "You are very welcome my friend."


End file.
